Now that Liam is in 9th grade, he’s auditioning for the High School honor bands/orchestras on trombone. Happily, he made it into all 3 (All County, All Southern and All State). The first of these concerts was last Sunday (after 3 days of rehearsals, oh so luckily hosted by the University of Redlands).

I wasn’t able to get very good pictures, but it was an enjoyable concert! These honor groups are a great way to keep the kids connecting with other like minded folk, and the bigger the audition pool the better the group can be. Groups like these were major motivators for me when I was growing up, and now, they are acting similarly for Liam.

And Logan is doing a great job of holding his brother’s tuxedo jacket! Fun times!

alamodestuff Linda has started a weekly meetup based on taking a moment each week to really notice something as you go about your daily grind life. I need to do this. You may want to too – read more about it here:

One Moment | Liam’s All Southern Concert is a post from: Candied Fabrics New in the shop: Versatile Messenger Bag Pattern

January Goals

After getting my 2 magazine articles out the door, I really focused on the e-course. I had a bit of a problem getting the private website working properly – turns out there was actually a bug in the the plugin that the folks over at Cart66 had to fix – once I figured out that it wasn’t me that was the problem and asked them for help it was Friday before Martin Luther King weekend, so I had to gnash my teeth over the long weekend. The thing is – I had plenty of other stuff to do for the course,  but I found it really hard to just put that worry away and focus on something else, so there was some valuable time lost. But once it came together, it came together really fast! I sent my first email out to the people on my interest list Sunday the 22nd and I haven’t looked back! Wooooooot!

I had high hopes that I would have some actual people register for the class, and I am happy to say that they have! I underestimated a bit how to keep orders straight, and get an introductory email to each new registrant, but I figured out a system soon enough. Although I had originally planned to start the class on Feb. 1, with getting people registered with an introductory price beforehand, I ended up wanting to have a lesson or two ready for them when they registered, so pushed to get the first 2 sessions up. At the end of the month, I’m elated and exhausted!

So here’s what’s on my plate for next month:

January Goals

I’m gonna be having lots of fun with my online course! If you’re on the edge about whether or not to join us, please know that the last day to get the early bird pricing is today!

Interested in the meetup? Find out more here, any one is welcome to join!

Meetup | January Goals is a post from: Candied Fabrics New in the shop: Versatile Messenger Bag Pattern

My stepsister Pam loves steno pads, she uses them all the time at work, and years ago she asked me to make one of my notetakers (using Kathy Mack’s awesome pattern) sized for a steno pad.

She’s loved it all these years and wanted to give her assistant one for her birthday…any guess what the assistant’s name is?

It got there just in the nick of time, and Jamie loves it! hooray!

A Steno Pad Notetaker for a Tulip Lovin’ Gal is a post from: Candied Fabrics New in the shop: Versatile Messenger Bag Pattern

I had a lovely lunch on Friday. A colleague of mine at the University of Redlands who teaches in the Econ department emailed me a couple of weeks ago, asking if I would be able to have lunch with he and his Mom who was going to be visiting from Vermont, because she was a fan of my work through my blog. So yesterday I met Pam, an “old hippy” (her words), retired nurse, seamstress extraordinaire (whose idea of fun is sewing a trench coat with a zip out lining) and lover of COLOR!

We had a lovely time chatting, and regaling in the wonders of the internet. She’d come across my work online and loved the colors that I use (it can get pretty drab in New England in the Winter). She has friends in a few different sewing/quilting guilds that also love my colors, and at some point one of her friends noticed that I taught at the U of R and told Pam. How cool, how connected, how serendipitous!

Also this week, registrations for my new online dyeing class have been coming in from ALL OVER! (Every “ding” from my mailbox is so exciting! Did someone else join? Or is this another ad or bill? Oh the suspense!) I’ve got people from many differnt U.S. states, 4 provinces in Canada, plus Australia, Great Britain, Greece and Poland! Seriously…how small can this world get? All these wonderful people I get to meet, because of this glowing screen I stare at so often! So often people despair that the internet is making people more self absorbed, but I contend that it’s the exact opposite. It can transcend the globe, bringing people with similar interests together, allowing them to share their passions and learn about their respective world views. HOW EXCITING!

If you’ve been thinking about taking my dyeing course, I’d love to have you join this global group! It’s a self paced class with no expiration date, so you don’t have to worry finishing by a certain date. And you can save 30% by being an “early bird” if you sign up by February 1st!

alamodestuff Linda has started a weekly meetup based on taking a moment each week to really notice something as you go about your daily grind life. I need to do this. You may want to too – read more about it here:

One Moment | Internet Connectedness is a post from: Candied Fabrics New in the shop: Versatile Messenger Bag Pattern

Vicki over at Sew Inspired has put together a whole month of folks blogging about their take on free motion quilting. I’m over there today talking about how my free motion quilting morphed into free motion machine sketching. Come take a look!

Focus on Free Motion Quilting Guest Post is a post from: Candied Fabrics New in the shop: Versatile Messenger Bag Pattern